Once upon a time there were 2 kids who got lost on an island. They really just forgot how to get back home and for three days they tried to remember. On the 3rd day they discovered an old house and an old lady and old man living there.

The kids helped out around the house in many ways and they were given a gift by the old people. What do you think these kids did? The children who I told the story to said, “do chores, paint the house (black), clean their dentures, help out in the garden, tell them stories by drawing pictures.”

The old man gave the kids a salamander. Now I know of 2 salamanders, one is a Fire Salamander that is described as a “living dinosaur” because it is one of the oldest living critters on this planet. The other is a relatively new critter on the planet, a Tiger Salamander, which is an endangered species that is local to the San Francisco Bay Area.

The old lady gave them leaf from a Ginkgo tree. Ginkgo’s are one of the oldest living trees in the world, they date back 270 million years. Ginkgo is also a helper plant, it is used today to help people with memory loss, (and remember…in our story the kids have forgotten how to get home and the storyteller has forgotten how the story ends).

Well, the salamander eats some of the Ginkgo leaf and remembers something and takes off and the kids follow. Now with each school I tell the story to, a new animal shows up to help with this great adventure. At Edison Elementary School an otter showed up, at Washington a tiger, at Bay Farm a dolphin, and at Paden a pelican.

to be continued…